First season win for Benjamin Raich

Patrick Lang 10.12.2007 09:20 Uhr

It took him a while but as the World Cup tour returned on European snow, Benjamin Raich found back his best rhythm to win his first race of the season – his 30th in total on the World Cup tour since January 1999.

Thanks to two blistering runs down the lower part of the treacherous “Franz Klammer run” the former Overall World Cup champion beat by over half a second Sweden’s Jens Byggmark while Italy’s Manfred Moelgg reached once again the podium in being 3rd at 72/100 of a second.

Two other Italian skiers finished just behind the consistent Moelgg, Patrick Thaler, only 29th in the first leg, and Christian Deville. Thaler, the second skier on course in the afternoon, made the best of the well prepared slope to clock an impressive best time – almost a second faster than Raich!

Reinfried Herbst, who suffered a bad injury last year, achieved a nice comeback with his 6th place, 8/100 ahead of Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic.

France’s Jean Baptiste Grande was 10th – not exactly what he was aiming for prior the race. Switzerland’s Marc Gini, the surprising winner at Reiteralm last month was a far 18th – 10/100 behind his teammate Daniel Albrecht who lost his lead in the Overall World Cup standings today.

Finland’s Kalle Palander and Team America’s Bode Miller didn’t end the first run.

Raich is now leading the general classification with 405 points – 73 more than the young Swiss. The 29-year-old Tyrolian also leads the Super-G and the slalom standings before the coming Italian races in Val Gardena (Super-G and downhill) and Alta Badia (giant slalom and slalom).

The Austrian leader totally dominated this second slalom race, clocking the fastest run in the morning with a lead of 24/100 on Byggmark and 31/100 on Germany’s Felix Neureuther who moved down to 11th place in the afternoon.

In the second leg, Raich perfectly mastered the pressure to increase his lead on the Swede who took as usual spectacular risks on his way down the slope to take the lead over Moelgg.

In fact it seems as if the quadruple gold medal winner from Bormio and Sestriere was carried by the excited crowd who encouraged loudly him before and during his final run. “I heard them well at the start and I was very motivated, totally ready to give my best to win that race,” “Big Ben” explained afterwards.

“It was a very difficult race, the slope was very steep and the snow icy,” he added. “It was a perfect day for me, I felt confident and in good shape since the season start. I knew it was just a matter of time before I would win again, and the difficult conditions inspired me today. For sure I had a big advantage with the crowd who supported me and helped me to reach my limits. It’s the same when I race at Schladming – it’s such a special atmosphere there that you want to give your best from the first to the last gate.”

“The first season’s victory is always special, it means a lot to know you’re back at the top. It confirms that you trained well and that you can again put all the pieces together. You definitely need to be patient and wait on the right moment to go for it.”

“I’ll take a short break now at home to train and prepare the next Italian events in Gardena and Val Badia. I’ll skip the downhill to save some energy for Friday’s Super-G and the following technical races.”

Jens Byggmark and Manfred Moelgg both praised Raich’s performance after the race. “I gave my best but Benjamin was out of reach today, yet I’m totally satisfied with my performance, it’s nice to be back on the podium,” said the young skier from Taernaby who achieved his best performance since finishing 2nd at Schladming last January. “I made mistakes today because I fought hard but it was quite fun and exciting,” added Jens who skied out at Reiteralm last month.

Moelgg, who scored his fourth consecutive top-3 result in a World Cup slalom was almost more excited by the strong performances of his team-mate than by his own result. “It’s really fantastic to see that our team is doing so well now,” he said afterwards. “Thaler and Deville were amazing and for sure they helped me to excel once again. It’s fun to amass all these podiums finishes – especially here in two different specialties. I’m now looking forward for a thrilling weekend in Alta Badia. It would a great place to celebrate my first win on the World Cup tour!”

With two victories on the women’s tour thanks to Denise Karbon and all the podium finishes achieved by Manfred and Manuela Moelgg and Chiara Costazza, the Italian Ski Team suddenly became a strong rival of the Austrian and the Swiss racers in this first part of the season. The coming Italian competitions could bring them even more luck!